Monday, June 01, 2009

A couple of emails popped into the inbox, over the weekend when Orlando clinched, and asked if ABC/ESPN are considering benching Jeff Van Gundy for the Finals. Even though his brother coaches the Magic, I responded that it wasn't likely and that JVG would know what to say and how to say it when asked about Stan and the Magic. Well apparently I was wrong. Jeff Van Gundy told Newsday that he's absolutely rooting for the Magic, and even asked ABC brass if they wanted him to take the Finals off....

Spoke to former Knicks coach and current ESPN/ABC analyst Jeff Van Gundy Sunday about the presence of a certain coach on the bench of one of the teams for the NBA Finals.

"I'm going to try to be as objective as possible," he said, "but I want my brother’s team to win; there’s no question about that."

When Stan Van Gundy's Magic took a 2-1 series lead over the Cavaliers, his younger brother discussed the looming potential conflict with his coordinating producer, Tim Corrigan.

“I said, ‘Hey, listen, if you guys don’t think it’s best for me to call the Finals, I’m fine with that, and I understand,’’’ he said. “I don’t want to compromise anything. They said they wanted me to do it.’’

Now I understand that you'd want your brother to succeed, but don't just go blurt it out for everyone to read. I think Van Gundy secretly wants to be fired so he can go take that 76ers job, that every former coach turned analyst is rumored to be interested in.

Why does Van Gundy have to get fired to pursue the 76ers job? Can't he just leave? In any case, while I like Hubie Brown more, Van Gundy will forever have my admiration because of his anti-BCS commentary.